I feel very fortunate to have experienced depression. I feel as though, as a result I have learnt another language which enables me to communicate and empathise with people in a way that I wouldn’t have been able to do so before. It also exposed weaknesses or at least chinks in my armour that I had previously ignored.
When experiencing mental illness, the world is very different. The world can morph; experiences gain or lose meaning; your relationships to others change; your belief systems change etc.
It is not the case that my experience is universal. But I can accept and understand that the world does change around you. For example, the economy of a hug, a kiss, complimentary words etc. making you feel better is now false. They may not make you feel better and it is very hard for those close to you to understand this. And maybe even you cannot understand why
This because unfortunately depression may not be triggered by the external world (environment). It is a fight of the internal world (your mind).
It relates to the same concept I have previously discussed.
If the demands of the environment are too great, you will break
There is no shame. Everyone has their breaking point. A lot of people are either forced there or lack the awareness to realise they’re about to meet their breaking point.
Victoria, our counsellor (www.revitalizeclinic.co.uk/counselling) helped me to create a calm base of which I could then work to improve my mental strength. With a calm base that I could return to, I could test my capacity to deal with failure (feedback not failure), I could practice protecting my energy / time and saying “no“more often, to question things, to become tolerant of people potentially disliking me.
It is an amazing feeling to be able to stand strong and stare in the face what may have previously rocked you
If you are experiencing similar difficulty, please contact me. It would be great to introduce you to Victoria. I will ask her to call you if you leave your details below for a quick chat as to how she can help